by Elia Bizzarri | Aug 29, 2025 | Classes | 0 Comments
I don't carve many spoons, but spoon carving is in the air this week. Yesterday I went to the log yard to get a white oak. What looked like the best log had metal in it - a problem for sawmills, but not for riven chair parts - so Junior gave the log to me for...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 31, 2025 | Craft Films | 4 Comments
I came down with a cold this morning, so I'm watching videos. This one is pretty astounding: hewing and turning a huge shaft for a mill's water-wheel (go here to watch the foresters fell the oak and the carters haul it to the mill with a pair of draft horses - also...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jun 5, 2025 | Classes | 0 Comments
I'm starting to get back in the swing of things again. I've been working on a settee and a set of barstools, visiting my mom a lot, getting my book finalized, going through my father's papers. Recently, I found this: These directions guided my dad and me to...
by Elia Bizzarri | May 13, 2025 | Chair Stories | 20 Comments
My kind, sweet, gentle papa passed on May 1st. It was both expected and unexpected, the best possible passing and the saddest day of my life. My wife Morgan, my mother, and I were all there, holding his hand. Driving down to my parent's house that morning, I decided I...
by Elia Bizzarri | Mar 3, 2025 | Classes | 2 Comments
If this year has a theme, it's called Lost Art Press. Chris Schwartz was here a couple weeks ago taking photos for my new book (if we're lucky, it may be available by the end of the year). Then he's coming back in April to film a video of me teaching my...
by Elia Bizzarri | Nov 22, 2024 | Classes | 0 Comments
"Penny Hewitt runs a great class," Curtis Buchanan told me after traveling to Vermont to make a pack basket with her. "She's personable and laid-back, and she knows her stuff. You should have her teach at your shop." A couple weeks ago, Penny emailed...
by Elia Bizzarri | Oct 14, 2024 | Craft Films, No-Glue joints, Samuel Wing Book Project | 13 Comments
I have finished writing my book about Samuel Wing. Sure, there's still editing to be done, but that never ends. The Lost Art Press folks will be here in February to photograph the book and we'll go from there. Jeff Lefkowitz just sent me the proofs...
by Elia Bizzarri | Sep 16, 2024 | Classes | 1 Comment
Just yesterday I finished teaching a wheelbarrow class with Peter Ross. One of my favorite parts of this class is the intersection between wood and fire. The tire gets heated in a wood fire before it is shrunk onto the wheel and even the staples for the staked sides...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 26, 2024 | Chairmaking Tools and Supplies | 8 Comments
I sold my first reamer in 2004 or 2005 for about $40. Compared to the reamers we make now, it was a pretty rough affair; I ground the blade from a Stanley compass-saw blade and made the body from a maple blank for a Windsor chair leg. Since then, the price of our...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 14, 2024 | Chairmaking Tools and Supplies | 20 Comments
These tenon cutters were donated by a former student who has retired from his chairmaking hobby. We'd like them to go to someone who would have trouble affording them and would use them a lot. If you know someone like that, please nominate them (or yourself) in...
Donate below to help keep the blog going. Thanks!